National Blog

In the latest leak from NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden, The Washington Post reports that the communications of innocent Americans, including emails, photos, and documents, vastly outnumber the communications of foreigners suspected of terrorism collected by the NSA.

Ordinary Internet users, American and non-American alike, far outnumber legally targeted foreigners in the communications intercepted by the National Security Agency from U.S. digital networks, according to a four-month investigation by The Washington Post.

Nine of 10 account holders found in a large cache of intercepted conversations, which former NSA contractor Edward Snowden provided in full to The Post, were not the intended surveillance targets but were caught in a net the agency had cast for somebody else.

And just what can the government learn about us from our most personal communications?

Many other files, described as useless by the analysts but nonetheless retained, have a startlingly intimate, even voyeuristic quality. They tell stories of love and heartbreak, illicit sexual liaisons, mental-health crises, political and religious conversions, financial anxieties and disappointed hopes. The daily lives of more than 10,000 account holders who were not targeted are catalogued and recorded nevertheless.

In other words, the government is able to know very personal details about us that have nothing to do with fighting terrorism. With each Snowden leak we know more and more about the unconstitutional actions our government is taking. What will be next?